possible partition error suse linux boot

user · October 18, 2010, 2:14pm

On 2010-10-18 12:06, davidm01 wrote:
>
> Ok, back again. Unfortunately on my own for at least two days - that’s
> me, who had nothing whatever to do with installing this system !!
>
> First let me encourage you to believe that you are the best people to
> work this one out, because we ARE talking about OES-linux - that is

…

> SUSE linux Enterprise server 10 SP3 Kernel 2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp
> partition 1 is ext2
> partition 2 is LVM
> partition 3 is a Novell NSS-formatted volume

Now, we are not the right people. This is not the right forum.

This forum is for openSUSE. You are not using openSUSE, you are using the Enterprise version!
There are specific forums for that product, and there is official paid support.

There are similarities, but also many differences. Please, ask in their forum, they will know lots
about that type of system. We don’t. We might give you wrong advice which might lead to damage of
your system because of ignorance. We have to guestimate our steps with that system of yours.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)

davidm01 · October 18, 2010, 3:50pm

The mount /dev/sda1 /mnt worked
cd /mnt worked
ls -l says

total 9049
all lines start with a rights list and 1 or 2 and root root … I hope you do not need those rights !

954780 Sep 5 2009 system.map-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp
512 Jun 8 13:48 backup.mbr
1 Jun 8 13:34 boot → .
61340 Sep 5 2009 config-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp
1024 Jun 8 13:48 grub
27 Jun 8 14:29 initrd → initrd-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp
4244216 Jun 8 14:29 initrd-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp
12288 Jun 8 13:39 lost+found
135680 Jun 8 13:48 message
107733 Sep 5 2009 symsets-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp.tar.gz
289608 Sep 5 2009 symtypes-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp.gz
95755 Sep 5 2009 symvers-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp…gz
1807692 Sep 5 2009 vmlinux-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp.gz
28 Jun 8 13:39 vmlinuz → vmlinux-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp
1505819 Sep 5 2009 vmlinuz-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp
Rescue:/mnt #

so I hope there are no typos there. And if you need the rights and single digit in front, I will do my best

hcvv · October 18, 2010, 4:12pm

As you see for yourself, the /boot partition is mountable and usable.

As the error you are after is something about an fs being full, try a

df /mnt

to see if it is this one. The percentage used should be far below 100%.

But I am afraid that I can not help you with checking the other file systems, based on LVM. One of those could be 100%, but I do not know how to mount these on a live disk environment. I am afraid Carlos is right, we have to less experience with your sort of system.

davidm01 · October 18, 2010, 5:14pm

=Carlos E. R.;2239881Now, we are not the right people. This is not the right forum.

This forum is for openSUSE. You are not using openSUSE, you are using the Enterprise version!
There are specific forums for that product, and there is official paid support.

I started there, sure, but am getting no response at all …>:(

df /mnt says 16% full

robin_listas · October 19, 2010, 1:50am

On 2010-10-18 17:36, davidm01 wrote:
>
>> =Carlos E. R.;2239881Now, we are not the right people. This is not the
>> right forum.
>>
>> This forum is for openSUSE. You are not using openSUSE, you are using
>> the Enterprise version!
>> There are specific forums for that product, and there is official paid
>> support.
>
> I started there, sure, but am getting no response at all …>:(

Uff… sorry about that.

And paid support? A professional would get you out of the hole in no time. I’m a professional but
not in this field.

> df /mnt says 16% full

That’s only the boot partition.

Look, I simply do not know how your system is supposed to work, I have no experience with LVM, and
even less with Netware volumes. I have to slowly guess the way in a system that’s beyond my
experience, and which I can not see. It will take days. Or more.

Ok, lets get out the crystal ball.

What I would do now is get the initrd image; that’s the file “initrd-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp”. Copy it
to another computer running linux. It will be a cpio archive, so it can be expanded. My method is to
rename it to something.cpio, then in an xterm I look at it with the text file browser “mc” (Midnight
Commander"), and expand the archive.

In that archive there should be an /etc directory with some files and directories: lets see what
files (perhaps you can post the output of “tree”). I’m interested for now in the fstab file, if it
exists. There should be also clues on how the LVM is set up. Perhaps if somebody that knows how lvm
works they’d tell more.

Also, in the listing you posted there is a “grub” directory. In it, there will be a file named
“menu.lst”. Post it here, between

 tags. We can get from there how the kernel loaded and what
options it uses.

Maybe we can learn something from all that.

--
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 "Emerald" at Telcontar)

davidm01 · October 19, 2010, 1:22pm

Carlos, I booted from a Ubuntu CD and under systems monitor / File systems, I see
/dev/sda1 holds /media/fd6877… type ext2 68.3 Mb free 53.1 Mb (that must be the /boot partition) and…
/dev/loop0 holds /rofs type squashfs 658Mb free 0 bytes (maybe thats the Linux LVM partition) interersting that it seems full…

I searched both the /dev/sda1 and /dev/loopo directory paths for menu.lst and fstab
menu.lst appears in /dev/sda1 but it won’t display (in Ubuntu) says ‘file is of unknown type’
fstab does not seem to be in /dev/sda1

menu.lst does not appear in /dev/loop0 but grub-menu.lst does - it is clearly just to run memtest86+
fstab appears in various forms, but the one in /rofs/etc just says # UNCONFIGURED FSTAB FOR BASE SYSTEM
theres another in /rofs/lib/init seems to be a static version
theres another in /rof/usr/share/doc/mount/examples which is clearly an example.
all the other fstab have versions of one soprt or another .h .py .puc .5.gz and so forth.

To me, one of the things I need to do is rebuild fstab to match the file structure all ready there… ho, ho, how ?
Going to need an expert visit at some time, for sure. You know anybody in Birmingham, England?

knurpht · October 19, 2010, 1:57pm

My advice: use a LiveCD to mount the installed root. Check the folder where the mount point of the backup disk is. If you did not write to a mounted disk, and the folder where it should be mounted exists, data will be copied there. Can you check that?

hcvv · October 19, 2010, 2:00pm

You arer still thinking that something with your partitioning is wrong. I am not of the same opinion. The error says that a file system is full. You have now seen that a filesystem is full. So why making it more difficult?

When you have the the culprit mounted on /rofs, then go there and look around what could be deleted to make space. When it is mounted read-only (which I guess from the name of the mountpoint) then umount it and mount it again read-write. The mount statement will tell you how it is mounted ATM, thus you can use the same parameters, but without a -r or the like.

The menu.lst * is only inside /boot/grub (on the original system and thus now in /media/fd68…/grub/). Do not let Ubuntu decide what it is, but use cat to list it or vi to edit it.
In any case, now that you have found the 100% full filesystem menu.lst* is academic ATM.

robin_listas · October 19, 2010, 1:50pm

On 2010-10-19 13:36, davidm01 wrote:
>
> Carlos, I booted from a Ubuntu CD and under systems monitor / File
> systems, I see
> /dev/sda1 holds /media/fd6877… type ext2 68.3 Mb free 53.1 Mb
> (that must be the /boot partition)

Yes.

> and…
> /dev/loop0 holds /rofs type squashfs 658Mb free 0 bytes (maybe thats
> the Linux LVM partition) interersting that it seems full…

No, that’s the ubuntu CD.

> I searched both the /dev/sda1 and /dev/loopo directory paths for
> menu.lst and fstab
> menu.lst appears in /dev/sda1 but it won’t display (in Ubuntu) says
> ‘file is of unknown type’

You may need to be root, and it is a text file. Use any plain text editor, or the command “less” in
an xterm.

> fstab does not seem to be in /dev/sda1

I never said there. I gave you instructions on how to get it, it is, or may be, inside an archive.
An archive is a file packing many files, usually compressed. Think or archive.zip in windows.

>
> menu.lst does not appear in /dev/loop0 but grub-menu.lst does - it is

Forget loop0, thats the cdrom. Not interested in that.

> Going to need an expert visit at some time, for sure. You know anybody
> in Birmingham, England?

No, I live in Spain, sorry.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)

hcvv · October 19, 2010, 2:25pm

Must redress myself!!! As Carlos says loop0 points to the CD. Did not realise that. And of course the CD is full (and unwritable.).

Sorry, but sometimes it is difficult from a distance.

robin_listas · October 19, 2010, 4:03pm

On 2010-10-19 14:06, Knurpht wrote:
>
> My advice: use a LiveCD to mount the installed root. Check the folder
> where the mount point of the backup disk is. If you did not write to a
> mounted disk, and the folder where it should be mounted exists, data
> will be copied there. Can you check that?

The problem is that the lives do not mount that part. The only things mounted are a small /boot and
the live cd - the rest is in an LVM group we do not know the structure of, and a netware volume.

> SUSE linux Enterprise server 10 SP3 Kernel 2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp
> partition 1 is ext2
> partition 2 is LVM
> partition 3 is a Novell NSS-formatted volume

So I’m trying to guess where the root filesystem is supposed to be, and how. The clues might be in
the grub menu (sda1), and inside the initrd archive.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)

davidm01 · October 19, 2010, 4:15pm

Just a note to describe the result of booting from the OES install CD, choosing the install/repair install/automatic repair option

This very quickly fails at
Checking Partition Tables, saying
Repair partition table of /dev/evms/lvm2/system
No partition table found…blah, blah …select a repair option
(0) Have gpart suggest partition table
(o) Have gpart suggest partition table (expert mode)

which is why I think the partition table is fubar
Please see post#4 above

Should I go any further, or wait (days/weeks) until we can find an ‘expert’ to come to the site?

robin_listas · October 19, 2010, 5:21pm

On 2010-10-19 16:36, davidm01 wrote:
>
> Just a note to describe the result of booting from the OES install CD,
> choosing the install/repair install/automatic repair option
>
> This very quickly fails at
> Checking Partition Tables, saying
> Repair partition table of /dev/evms/lvm2/system
> No partition table found…blah, blah …select a repair option
> (0) Have gpart suggest partition table
> (o) Have gpart suggest partition table (expert mode)
>
> which is why I think the partition table is fubar

Maybe, maybe not.

I don’t know how good the rescue module is in the Enterprise version, but in the openSUSE dvd it has
been abandoned, many bugs and no mantainer. Specifically, I don’t know if it understands LVM. I
don’t think an LVM volume has “partitions”.

> Please see post#4 above
>
> Should I go any further, or wait (days/weeks) until we can find an
> ‘expert’ to come to the site?

I’m still waiting for some data I asked…

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)

hcvv · October 19, 2010, 6:33pm

An LVM volume has no partitions. You can see LVM as a two layered construction:

One or more partitions (yes, the normal partitions, but it may also be whole disks without any partitioning and thus no partitions table) are grouped together to form a Volume Group.
That Volume Group will be split into one or more Logical Volumes. These Logical Volumes act then as the Partitions we all know. They can be used to create a File System on them, or Swap space, all in the same way aas this is done on a Partition (using mkswap and mkfs tools. Only thing is that the “hardware” used is not expressed as /dev/sda and friends, but with other* /dev/…* Device Special Files.

robin_listas · October 19, 2010, 10:32pm

On 2010-10-19 18:36, hcvv wrote:
>
> An LVM volume has no partitions. You can see LVM as a two layered
> construction:
>
> 1) One or more partitions (yes, the normal partitions, but it may also
> be whole disks without any partitioning and thus no partitions table)
> are grouped together to form a Volume Group.
>
> 2) That Volume Group will be split into one or more Logical Volumes.
> These Logical Volumes act then as the Partitions we all know. They can
> be used to create a File System on them, or Swap space, all in the same
> way aas this is done on a Partition (using -mkswap- and -mkfs- tools.
> Only thing is that the “hardware” used is not expressed as -/dev/sda-
> and friends, but with other- /dev/…- Device Special Files.

Right… I know the theory, but I’ve never used it, I’m no expert.

He has:


sda1	/boot			ext2	 70.5MB
sda2	LVM for system.		??	 14.9Gb	Linux native (no mount point or mount by)
sda3	Novell Netware 386	??	665.5Gb	Novell NSS-formatted volume

I want to determine what configuration info is available inside the initrd archive, and the contents
of the menu.lst file (kernel options, boot volume, etc). I’m waiting for his response on those two
questions.

Then we need a live CD than can load such a beast. Can you do that part?
After that, we can try to see what filled the space and impedes booting.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)

gogalthorp · October 20, 2010, 3:16am

It seem to me that 15 gig may be a little slim for a commercial system root. This would also contain the /home directory also.

In theory multiple LVM volumes should be linkable into one larger virtual file system. But it probably requires a running system to extend it. Afraid I don’t know how that is done.

davidm01 · October 20, 2010, 11:15am

carlos, I am very, very grateful you are still with me, and am doing what I can to get the information you ask for.

menu.lst - please refer to post#26 where I describe what I did to try to find this using a Ubuntu live CD. This could see the file, but not display it.
If there is another way to look at it, would that be boot the SLES install CD, take an exit to a command prompt ?

So I’m trying to guess where the root filesystem is supposed to be, and how. The clues might be in
the grub menu (sda1), and inside the initrd archive.

Your references to intrd archive? I am sorry, I will need specific instructions to find that if it exists.

If a point comes where you want me to boot a ‘live CD’. I have two candidates (a) the original SLES10 install CD and a Ubuntu 10.04. The Ubuntu I am pretty sure is going to know nothing about LVM, so I suspect whatever I need to do can only be done via the original SLES10 install. Is that correct?

robin_listas · October 20, 2010, 1:29pm

On 2010-10-20 11:36, davidm01 wrote:
>
> carlos, I am very, very grateful you are still with me, and am doing
> what I can to get the information you ask for.
>
> menu.lst - please refer to post#26 where I describe what I did to try
> to find this using a Ubuntu live CD. This could see the file, but not
> display it.

I already replied to that. Post dated “2010-10-19 13:50 CEST”. It is a simple text file with root
only permissions.

> If there is another way to look at it, would that be boot the SLES
> install CD, take an exit to a command prompt ?

Use a live CD, like a knopix. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knopix>. Or perhaps partedmagic
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PartedMagic>. You can also use one of the live openSUSE CDs
<http://software.opensuse.org>. Try the gnome version of 11.2, I think.

>> So I’m trying to guess where the root filesystem is supposed to be, and
>> how. The clues might be in
>> the grub menu (sda1), and inside the initrd archive.
>
> Your references to intrd archive? I am sorry, I will need specific
> instructions to find that if it exists.

My post dated 2010-10-19 01:50 CEST, which refers to the directory contents you posted 2010-10-18
16:06 CEST.

> If a point comes where you want me to boot a ‘live CD’. I have two
> candidates (a) the original SLES10 install CD and a Ubuntu 10.04. The
> Ubuntu I am pretty sure is going to know nothing about LVM, so I suspect
> whatever I need to do can only be done via the original SLES10 install.
> Is that correct?

Dunno. I would try an opensuse live instead.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)

davidm01 · October 21, 2010, 12:56pm

mounted /dev/sda1 as /mnt and found file /grub/menu.lst this is what it says (omitting comments)


default 0
timeout 8
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/message
title SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp root=/dev/evms/lvm2/system/root vga=0x31a resume=/dev/evms/lvm2/system/swap splash=silent showopts
initrd /initrd-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp

title failsafe -- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp root=/dev/evms/lvm2/system/root vga=0x31a showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume edd=off 3
initrd /initrd-2.6.16.60-0.54.5-smp

hcvv · October 21, 2010, 1:06pm

It says that /dev/evms/lvm2/system/root is your root “partition” ((and /dev/evms/lvm2/system/swap is your swap “partition”, but that is not important here).
I say “partition” because it is not a partition like the MS-DOS partitions we know. It is a logical volume of some volume manager. The functioning of that volume manager is supported by the kernel you use and thus the device special file belonging to it (/dev/evms/lvm2/system/root) is created on boot and then used for the mount of /.

Now most probably that one is 100% full. The problem is how to mount this from any live CD/DVD because the kernel on that CD/DVD must support this volume management. IMHO the volume manager supported by the openSUSE kernel (LVM) is not this one (it uses different pathes in its device special files) and thus can not be used for this.